Archive for the ‘Leadership’ Category

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 368

Saturday, April 3rd, 2021

I thought I’d dabble in some real history again today. These are also long, but it is a Saturday. Also, this is advertising to some extent: I am not getting any compensation for this, but I like the idea, and heartily endorse this product and/or event.

When war broke out in Sudan towards the end of the 19th century, Winston Churchill wanted to be there. He managed to get himself attached to the 21st Lancers: he also managed to get himself a contract to write articles about the war for one of the newspapers.

In 1899, Churchill published The River War: An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan, his second book. The original edition was an elaborately put together and illustrated two-volume set.

The first edition was reviewed by The Times, which described it as containing material sufficient for two good books and one bad one, with the bad one being the more interesting.

After becoming a member of Parliament, Churchill edited it down to one volume (and removed much of his criticism of senior officers, especially General Kitchener), and subsequent reprints have pretty much been based on the one volume abridged edition. The original two-volume edition is very rare.

“Lessons from Churchill’s ‘The River War'”, a lecture at Hillsdale College by Dr. James W. Muller .

Longer bonus: this is only a few days old, too. Dr. Muller at America’s National Churchill Museum. “Churchill This Day #7: The River War: Churchill at War on the Nile”.

The advertising portion of this: Dr. Muller has been working on a new, two volume, unabridged and annotated edition of The River War. It is currently available for pre-order from Chartwell Booksellers, the Churchill specialty bookstore (who are very nice folks), with an estimated shipping date of early to mid-June.

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 341

Sunday, March 7th, 2021

Science Sunday!

I’m going back to the space science well again, after only two weeks, because I feel like both of these videos are worth using.

“Uptime 15,364 days – The Computers of Voyager”. This is a talk by Aaron Cummings from the Strange Loop Conference, and deals specifically with the computer hardware: less so, as the presenter puts it, with the actual science of V’ger.

These systems have proved to be both adaptable, durable, and resilient in support of a scientific undertaking now in it’s fifth decade.

Bonus: This might cross more into leadership and management than space science, but I thought I’d use it here anyway: Andrew Chaikin on “Management Lessons of the Moon Program”.

I’ve read A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts (affiliate link) and enthusiastically endorse it. If you only have time to read one history of the space program, Chaikin’s book is a good choice.

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 306

Sunday, January 31st, 2021

Science Sunday!

I apologize for the crappy quality of this first video. But it is from 1967. I’m putting this here because it is something that I hope you will never ever see up close and personal, and this is the only video I know of.

“Burning and Extinguishing Characteristics of Plutonium Metal Fires”.

To steal a line from the late John Clark in Ignition! (affiliate link), “For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.”

Bonus #1: “Who Destroyed Three Mile Island?”. As I understand it, this is a presentation from the Lead Developer conference in Austin in 2018. “So like most things in Austin today, the problem with the microphone is South By’s fault.”

More to the point:

When something bad happens, it’s easy to just blame someone and move on. Taking the time to find the systemic causes, though, will not only help keep the problem from repeating, it will enable you to build the psychological safety necessary for your team to truly collaborate. Let’s let the story of Three Mile Island teach us how to make our teams stronger through systems thinking and just culture.

In addition to the science! part of it, I think there’s some good leadership stuff in here too.

(I have another video from Nickolas Means that I want to use in the near future: I didn’t use it today because it was closer to history than science. But sometime next week, probably…)

Bonus #2: Lasers! 8 o’clock! Day one!

“360 video tour of the world’s largest laser” from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Bonus #3: “The Riemann Hypothesis, Explained”.

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 242

Friday, November 27th, 2020

Great and good FotB (and official firearms trainer of WCD) Karl Rehn sent over a fascinating page from the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum a few days ago.

There’s a whole bunch of great stuff there: much of it I haven’t had a chance to watch fully yet, but it pushes my buttons. The “Heros On Zoom” series is fairly short. I thought I’d single out “The Battle of New Orleans” for this one:

Mostly as a sleezy and transparent excuse to use this:

Bonus: I know this is long, but today is Black Friday. I hope most of you aren’t working, and it isn’t like you’re waiting in line outside Best Buy at 3 AM peeing on each other to keep warm while you wait for a PS5.

“Leadership Lessons from Fredericksburg”. I have complicated feelings about the Civil War, but (as you know, Bob) I’m a student of leadership, and Civil War leadership is one of the aspects of the war that does intrigue me. I’d really like to find good copies of Douglas Southall Freeman’s books in unabridged editions. (I have his collection of essays on leadership, but nothing else by him.)

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 163

Wednesday, September 9th, 2020

I think this is the first time I’ve done an entire daily entry devoted to a single person.

“Leadership Lessons from Gen. James Mattis (Ret.)”.

Bonus #1: the general’s speech to the OSS Society on receiving the 2019 William J. Donovan Award.

Bonus #2: General Mattis speaking at commencement for Central Washington University in 2011.

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 152

Saturday, August 29th, 2020

I know I’ve been running long all week. I apologize for that: next week, I’m hoping I can keep things a little shorter. Also a confession: I’ve watched the second two videos, but I’m only about 50 minutes into the first one.

Since today is Saturday, and since this video sits at the intersection of two of this blog’s obsessions interests, here you go: “Hadrian’s World: Leadership Lessons from a Roman Emperor”. You know, Hadrian? The wall guy?

Bonus: We haven’t spent enough time in the UKOGBNI recently, so let us remedy that. “How To Make A Royal Marines Officer”.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Richard Van der Horst. More from the Telegram. I know this seems out of context, but it will make more sense if you watch all the way through to the graduation ceremony in part 2.

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 138

Saturday, August 15th, 2020

I thought perhaps I could do something on the lighter, cheerier side for Saturday.

The late John Hillerman tells the funniest joke he’d ever heard. As an admirer of Churchill myself, I approve of this joke, even though I have heard it before. Really, Hillerman’s delivery makes up for it being oft cited.

I don’t want to post a bunch of these, but just one more that I couldn’t pass up. Because: Shatner.

(“There’s no rule that says a mule horse can’t play football baseball!” My DuckDuckGo-fu may be weak, but I looked through the 2019 MLB rulebook, and I actually do not see any requirement that players be human. I guess as long as your horse isn’t on baseball’s permanently ineligible list…)

(“Bojack Horseman, call the commissioner, please.”)

Anyway, I actually had not heard that one. And it gives me a nice transition into this video, which I thought I’d post since Eddie Gaedel was mentioned earlier in the week:

One thing that’s been popping up in my recommendations recently is “STEP promotion” videos. Now, we’ve already established that I never served, and there’s probably a few (okay, more than a few) people who think I place an awful lot of emphasis on military stuff, military history, and military leadership for someone who didn’t serve.

There may be some truth to that. But the STEP videos reinforce something that’s important to me where I am now, and where I hope to be in the future: immediate public praise and reward for exceptional performance.

And finally, someone commented earlier this week: “Veronica Lake always gets the thumbs-up seal of approval.” I usually don’t like linking fiction or movie clips here, unless I’m using them to illustrate a throwaway joke or a larger point.

I’m making an exception in this case to give you something even better than Veronica Lake: Veronica Lake, wet.

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 130

Friday, August 7th, 2020

More random!

Lawrence might approve of this: a tank battle. With remote controlled tanks.

The AAF Tank Museum. Flamethrower Day is coming up in September. Danville is only a little more than an hour away from Bedford, where the National D-Day Memorial is. Mike the Musicologist and I have talked about visiting the memorial, so the AAF Museum falls right in line with that plan.

I feel like this is going to turn some folk’s crank: a large R/C Airwolf in flight. With rocket fire a little past the 2:00 mark.

I have mixed feelings about some of these R/C aircraft videos. On the one hand, I admire the people who can build and fly these massive detailed objects. On the other hand, I keep thinking about the massive amounts of time, effort, and money that could be wiped out in seconds by one hardware failure or human error.

The “Leadership Secrets…” series is still active: I just haven’t found a lot of examples to post recently. But these two videos popped up in my feed. One short, but watch to the end for the point:

(This same point was quoted directly in a Twitter thread I linked to a while back. Thankfully, that’s still up.)

One longer:

It isn’t like Lawrence and I don’t have enough stuff already, but I’m giving some thought to “Band of Brothers”.

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 94

Thursday, July 2nd, 2020

Ah, the Lockheed Electra. The L-188 version, to be clear, not the Model 10 Electra, which is what Amelia Earhart was flying when she was lost.

The L-188 story is fascinating. Lockheed started working on a similar aircraft in 1951, but couldn’t get anyone to buy it. They kept refining the design (going from two to four engines and stretching the plane for increased seating) and, in 1955, Eastern and American placed orders. The first Electra went into service with Eastern in January of 1959.

Three aircraft were lost in fatal accidents between February 1959 and March 1960. After the third crash, the FAA limited the Electra’s speed until the cause could be determined.

There’s an excellent book, The Electra Story, by Robert J. Serling, that covers the history of the plane. The first accident was determined to be basically “pilot error”, though Serling quotes the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB – they investigated crashes until the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) took over in 1967) as stating “…the accident was an accumulation of several factors or errors which, together, compromised the safety of the flight“. (Among those factors: limited experience in the Electra, the plane was using a new type of altimeter different from the ones American used in Electra crew training, and inadequate approach lighting.)

The second two accidents were a lot more complicated. Two Electras (one operated by Braniff and one by Northwest Orient) came apart in mid-air and crashed, killing everyone on board. Much of Serling’s book deals with the investigation and the controversy surrounding it. There was a tremendous amount of pressure put on the FAA administrator by Congress and even some airlines to ground the Electra completely until the cause of the accidents was determined.

Lockheed went to extraordinary efforts to find out what had happened:

Each day Bob Gross met with all Lockheed department heads and key engineers. Each day he asked the same question:
“Do you have all the people you need and all the equipment you need? If not, well get it.”
They took him at his word.

It wasn’t just Lockheed, though. Amazingly (to me) both Boeing and Douglas provided engineers and equipment to Lockheed as well, even though the companies were fierce rivals.

Where safety begins, competition ends, for public confidence is the pillar supporting all commercial aviation. Any unsolved accident is a challenge to every airline and every airframe manufacturer, no matter what individual carrier or individual aircraft is involved. Buffalo and Tell City not only were unsolved crashes, but disasters that raised doubts about the industry’s very system of designing and testing new planes. Lockheed’s methods of developing and testing the Electra were almost identical to those used by other companies.

A man named Tom Harris was running Aero Design and Engineering at the time: they made the Aero Commander, a very popular general aviation aircraft. While on the road, he heard people talking about how unsafe and not airworthy the Electra was. When he returned home, he wrote a memo to his staff:

When we have completed an aircraft, and are satisfied that we have produced a safe and airworthy vehicle, we must of course secure this government certification. These two things accomplished, we go to the public and do our best to persuade potential customers that this is the machine they should buy. How well we succeed depends on how effective our persuasive efforts are. We ask for no help from others. We do expect, however, that to the extent our reputation has substance, and to the extent this government certification is valid, that others in the industry will respect our claim for airworthiness. We ask no praise from competitors, but in fairness and in behalf of total industry growth, we believe under this circumstance other members of the industry should not attack, criticize, or infer any unsafe situation with regard to such a product…
It has developed that some of our own people have opinions that the airplane is not safe to ride as presently being operated by the airlines; that it has an inherent defect which has not been determined or remedied, and that to fly in it is foolish and unwise.
At this point, I should like to make it very clear that I do not intend to ask anyone in this organization to fly in any aircraft which he or she does not wish to fly in, either because of the opinions as to safety, comfort, or any other reason. The people of Aero Commander are free to exercise their own judgment and conscience in determining what aircraft, if any, they are individually willing to travel in.
Having made this clear, I feel impelled also to make clear that in my opinion, as responsible members of the aircraft industry, we also have the obligation to avoid making any remarks about another manufacturer’s aircraft that tend to destroy confidence in it, or impute any dangerous condition to such aircraft that would damage its reputation as well as the reputation of this industry, of which we are a part. No one is expected to make statements in praise of an aircraft that they honestly do not feel warrants praise, but an aircraft which has the reputation and experience of a sound manufacturer and the certification of the FAA should be talked about by others in our industry as being safe and airworthy, and if it cannot be praised by an individual, certainly it should not be run down.
If we cannot say something good about airplanes such as this, I suggest that we should at least remain silent.

They don’t make them like that any more.

The cause of the crashes was determined to be a little understood (at the time) phenomena called “whirl mode flutter”. What was happening was that the outboard engines could get into a mode where they’d start vibrating, and the engine mounts were not stiff enough to stop the vibration. Those vibrations could, in turn, be transmitted to the wings and set up a resonance, which would turn into a violent oscillation that only ended when it tore the wing off. Lockheed retrofitted the Electras with stronger engine mounts and engine mount supports, and thickened the struts, which resolved the whirl mode issue. But there were some other high profile crashes (for other reasons) and the public lost confidence in the Electra. Production ended in 1961, with 170 built. Many of them continued in use as cargo, rather than passenger aircraft, though some smaller carriers continued to use Electras on their routes. And Lockheed built a modified version of the Electra which became the highly successful P-3 Orion.

I enthusiastically recommend the Serling book. I don’t recommend that you pay what Amazon is asking for the Bantam Air and Space reprint, as it seems to show up intermittently at better used book stores for much less. But you can get the Kindle edition at a reasonable price, or for free if you have Kindle Unlimited.

Those two crashes were in Tell City, Indiana and Buffalo, Texas. Buffalo is about three hours from Austin: when we get out of jail, I may take a road trip up that way.

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 86

Wednesday, June 24th, 2020

I thought it might be fun to post some more Convair promotional videos. Especially since these show some nice vintage livery from airlines back in the day.

First up: “Convair Metropolitan”. The “Metropolitan” was another name for the CV-440, which in turn was a descendant of the CV-240 and CV-340.

Bonus: “The Convair Liner”, another promo film. This one covers the 240, 340, 440, and even the military variants.

I really like seeing the old Braniff paint jobs. I never flew Braniff, but I have sort of a sentimental fondness for them after reading Splash of Colors, John Nance’s history of the airline.

There’s a story in Nance’s book that I like: Braniff’s mechanics were on strike, and marching the picket line when a thunderstorm hit. Tom Braniff saw that the mechanics were getting wet, so he told one of his people to get some rainsuits, coffee, and doughnuts and take them to the guys on the picket line.

“But Mr. Braniff, those guys out there are on strike! They’re trying to shut us down!”
“I understand that, Buford, but they’re still my boys, and I don’t want them to get sick. Look at them out there! You go get those things and go treat them like human beings out there and be nice to them.”

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 64

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2020

I believe I promised an exotic destination yesterday. I hope you all have your bags packed, because what could be more exotic than…

…Vietnam?

From 1967, “You In Vietnam”, a Marine Corps training/orientation film for new recruits in country.

Bonus: from 1986, “Combat Leadership: The Ultimate Challenge”.

Lee Marvin shows up at about the three minute mark.

Father Vincent Robert Capodanno.

Monday, May 25th, 2020

Father Capodanno was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1958. He did missionary work in Taiwan and Hong Kong. But he felt a stronger calling.

So he enlisted, went through Officer Candidate School and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in 1965. He served with the United States Navy Chaplain Corps, and was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. Later he was transferred to the 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Marine Division to finish out his first tour. He took six months of leave, and then re-enlisted and was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. Shortly after that, he was reassigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division.

Father Capodanno was more than a priest ministering within the horrific arena of war. He became a constant companion to the Marines: living, eating, and sleeping in the same conditions of the men. He established libraries, gathered and distributed gifts and organized outreach programs for the local villagers. He spent hours reassuring the weary and disillusioned, consoling the grieving, hearing confessions, instructing converts, and distributing St. Christopher medals. Such work “energized” him, and he requested an extension to remain with the Marines.

The troops called him “The Grunt Padre”.

Lt. RJ Marnell remembers, “Fr. Capodanno was … told several times it was not his job to go on patrols, fire sweeps, etc. Yet you had to watch him like a hawk as it was not uncommon to see a group of Marines running to get on a helicopter to go into battle, and all of a sudden this figure comes out of nowhere, no rifle, just his priest gear, and jumping in the helicopter before anybody could catch him. He wanted to be with his Marines and didn’t feel his job was simply to say Mass on Sundays.”

He became a true father to young boys on the front lines. He was “out there” with his men where he lived, ate, and slept as they did. To the young recruits thrust into the terrifying reality of battle, he was always available in his tent where anyone could drop in for comfort and guidance.
He shared his salary, rations and cigarettes with anyone in need. He could always be counted upon for a cold soda or a book from his reading library. When Christmas came around and soldiers felt forgotten, Father Vincent saw to it that no Marine was without gifts which he obtained through a relentless campaign from friends and organizations all over the world.
More importantly, he heard confessions for hours on end, instructed converts, and administered the sacraments. His granting of General Absolution before battle unburdened the consciences of the Marines and instilled in them the courage to fight. His mere presence in a unit was enough to lift the morale of all on patrol.
When men died, he was at their side so they would not die alone. He gave them Last Rites encouraging them to repent and persevere. In addition, he wrote countless letters of personal condolence to parents of wounded and dead Marines and offered solid grounding and hope to fellow Marines who lost friends.
When the pseudo-peace movement began to oppose the war, Fr. Vincent raised the spirits of demoralized soldiers in the field. He encouraged his men to oppose that same brutal communist system, which still oppresses Vietnam today.

When his second tour of duty was up, he begged his superiors for an extension. That extension was denied: he was supposed to go home in November of 1967.

On September 4, 1967, at 4:30 am, during Operation Swift in the Thang Binh District of the Que Son Valley, elements of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines encountered a large North Vietnamese Army (NVA) unit of approximately 2,500 men near the village of Dong Son. The outnumbered and disorganized Company D of the 1st Battalion was in need of reinforcements. By 9:14 am, 26 Marines were confirmed dead, and two rifle companies from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines were committed to the battle. At 9:25 am, the commander of 1st Battalion requested further reinforcements.

In response to reports that the 2d Platoon of M Company was in danger of being overrun by a massed enemy assaulting force, Lt. Capodanno left the relative safety of the company command post and ran through an open area raked with fire, directly to the beleaguered platoon. Disregarding the intense enemy small-arms, automatic-weapons, and mortar fire, he moved about the battlefield administering last rites to the dying and giving medical aid to the wounded. When an exploding mortar round inflicted painful multiple wounds to his arms and legs, and severed a portion of his right hand, he steadfastly refused all medical aid. Instead, he directed the corpsmen to help their wounded comrades and, with calm vigor, continued to move about the battlefield as he provided encouragement by voice and example to the valiant marines. Upon encountering a wounded corpsman in the direct line of fire of an enemy machine gunner positioned approximately 15 yards away, Lt. Capodanno rushed a daring attempt to aid and assist the mortally wounded corpsman. At that instant, only inches from his goal, he was struck down by a burst of machine gun fire.

Father Capodanno was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions.

The Catholic Church is considering the case to canonize Father Capodanno as a saint. As I understand it, he has been named “Servant of God”, which is the first step in the process, but I can’t tell if there’s been any progress on this since 2013.